Asus MG28UQ Review

A fair amount of competition has been injected into monitors recently with a whole raft of tech like 4K resolutions, high refresh rates, ultra-wide panels and variable refresh rate technology i.e. AMD's FreeSync and Nvidia's G-Sync. The end result is that whatever resolution or panel size you're going for, you'll likely have a number of options to consider. It's great to see 4K panels becoming more affordable, though, and there's usually very little reason to spend more than £400 unless you're looking for G-Sync compatibility or high colour accuracy.

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To come in at under £400, the 28in Asus MG28UQ has opted for a TN panel rather than VA or IPS. It supports the VESA Adaptive-Sync technology - which is essentially FreeSync - so AMD graphics card owners will certainly benefit here from silky smooth games thanks to a dynamic refresh rate and reduced screen tearing. FreeSync is only supported in the 40-60Hz range, which is pretty limited and prevents AMD's Low Framerate Compensation (LFC) technology from working. As such, you'll need to keep games running at above 40fps to benefit from FreeSync. This isn't a major drawback, however, since this is the sort of average you should be aiming for as a minimum anyway.

This does make the screen very competitive price-wise too. The competition when we're talking 28in, 4K TN panels is mostly more expensive or lacks FreeSync support, while IPS panel models cost significantly more, with one or two exceptions of course.

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The MG28UQ isn't going to win any awards for its rather plain look - for something more snazzy you'll need to look at the company's ROG Swift range of monitors. There are also monitors out there with thinner bezels but at this price you can't complain too much as there's a lot on offer. You obviously get a super sharp 3,840 x 2,160 resolution with a refresh rate of 60Hz. The monitor is fully adjustable and simple to construct as well, with the stand clunking into place without need of screws - it couldn't be easier, and you can detach the stand via a single lever on the base too.

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Something we were extremely impressed with was the OSD, specifically the controls. A depressible red joystick makes navigating and selecting a breeze, although we doubt you'd need to head into the OSD that often once you've set everything up and enabled Adaptive-Sync/FreeSync, except maybe to switch inputs or for calibration. Even so, it's a nice touch that certainly made our lives easier when testing it. Other on-screen gubbins include FPS, timer and crosshair overlays as well as a display alignment tool. Meanwhile, Asus's DisplayWidget software allows you to switch between preset monitor modes more easily as well as filtering out blue light and launching specific profiles when applications are launched.

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You have four options when it comes to connecting your devices to the MG28UQ - a trio of HDMI ports (one HDMI 2.0, two HDMI 1.4) and a single DisplayPort 1.2 connector as well, which is the only connector to support FreeSync here. There's a USB 3.0 upstream Type-B port with a pair of Type-A ports - perfect for connecting a desktop hub or pair of peripherals. That said, they're obviously tricky to access being underneath - the screen lacks any side ports, which are generally more accessible. There's also a single 3.5mm audio output for tapping into your GPU's audio stream over HDMI or DisplayPort, either with a headset or stereo speakers. The monitor does include a pair of 2W speakers, but as per usual these are woeful even compared to a basic desktop set.

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As previously mentioned, the MG28UQ offers the full range of adjustments with the sturdy base allowing the stand pole to rotate - handy in dealing with the TN panel's somewhat limited viewing angles - plus there's generous amounts of height adjustment, tilt and rotation on offer too.